Sunday Bachata and Merengue Class with Cristian & Dee

March 19, 2006

Bachata

There are 8 counts to one measure of music. Leader’s footwork is L-R-L-R(tap) on 1,2,3,4 and R-L-R-L(tap) on 5,6,7,8. Follower’s footwork is R-L-R-L(tap) on 1,2,3,4 and L-R-L-R(tap) on 5,6,7,8.

Basic steps (some of the names used here are made up arbitrarily by me)

side-to-side basic – leader travels to L on 1,2,3 and travels to R on 5,6,7 with feet coming together on 2 and 6.

forward-and-back basic – leader travels forward on 1,2,3 and backwards on 5,6,7 with feet coming together on 2 and 6.

in-place basic – no travel is done and tap involves a slight step forward

back-to-back basic– backward step is initiated on 5 rather than 1. I’m not sure if this is necessary only when 1,2,3,4 is used to transition from side-to-side basic to in-place basic.

At one point I thought this back-to-back-like basic involved utilization of constant tension between leader and follower. I’m not quite sure at this point. I don’t know if this applies to followers as well as leaders, but Dee suggested to me that the tension should be on arms rather than the body. Different partner dances have different conventions regarding frame, tension, etc, and I must say I’m still a bit confused about appropriate level of tension for all dances including Salsa. In any case, Dee also said that tension used for Bachata is different from Salsa.

Instead of using tension (perhaps compression is better word here) to spring follower backwards on 5 and on 1, a subtler signal could be used to indicate continuation of back-to-back basic. Here it involved moving connected hands in inwards motion (from leader’s perspective, not quite 1/4 clockwise with L-R on 1 and not quite 1/4 counterclockwise with R-L on 5. Initiation of back-to-back basic still may involve using tension to spring follower backwards (on 5). I must say this is a bit of guesswork on my part.

in-and-out basic – starting with L-R hold (while doing back-to-back basic) lead an open break on 5, bring follower forward on 6 as follower is turned around 1/2 clockwise on 3 as follower is level with the leader and with leader’s R hand on follower’s R waist (leader stays facing the same way the whole time) – follower is led to step backwards on 1 and is brought forward while turning around 1/2 counterclockwise on 2,3. I must admit that mechanics involved here is not quite the same as in-and-out or Copa in Salsa, but I'm not sure if I want to call this a cuddle basic instead. To get back to side-to-side basic, I think an in-place basic should be used on 5,6,7,8. Alternatively, one could probably go right back to back-to-back basic.

Merengue

Basic steps taught included side basic (L foot to L on 1,5 and L foot in place on 3,7 while R foot is always in place) and forward basic (L foot forward on 1,5 and L foot in place on 3,7 with R foot always in place). Couples turn is done with R foot in place at all times and L foot clockwise rotational forward on 1,3,5,7. While I wasn’t sure that there was an absolute requirement for using 8 beat counts for Merengue (rather than 1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2)

Overview

This event generated level of response well beyond my expectations (as well as expectations of other people I spoke to). It looks like Vishal’s belief that there will be synergy between Tony and Claudia teaching Bachata as well as Cristian and Dee seems well on target thus far. I originally had meant to stay only 30 min or so after the class to go home and eat, but I ended up staying until near 11 PM, and there were a lot of people still dancing by the time I left. Excellent and interesting class and a great response from the Cambridge Latin dance community.

The music played was about 40% Merengue, 30% Bachata and 30% Salsa – at least during the time I was around. This worked out quite well – although I don’t feel I know enough pure Merengue at this point to want to dance it. This format allowed me to hear more variety of Bachata songs than is usual – even compared to Club Salsa on Wednesdays, which plays Salsa about 70% of the time.

Cambridge Bachata scene is getting pretty interesting. I suspect there will be fair bit of fusion between the styles as taught by Cristian & Dee and by Tony & Claudia – in a manner not completely unlike many people in Cambridge switching back and forth between Cuban and CBL styles of Salsa. Now if I could just get some of my Bachata dance partners to start doing traveling turns instead of stationary turns…